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FIRE, STORM BLAMED FOR DAMAGE AT PB BUSINESS

By Amy Widner/Of The Commercial Staff
Tuesday, November 3, 2009 10:40 AM CST

A fire that destroyed $75,000 worth of materials at Fiber Resources Inc. Sunday night came on the heels of $300,000-$400,000 in damage from Thursday’s tornado, a company spokesman said.

No one was injured.

“This was bad because it followed on that tornado, and we didn’t have our fire-suppression system,” said John Weaver, Fiber Resources plant controller. “[The tornado] just flat ripped [our fire-suppression system] up. We might have been able to suppress it otherwise.”

Fiber Resources, located at 1609 Celia Road, east of Evergreen Packaging Inc., produces wood pellets, wood chips and chunks for barbecue, horse bedding and railroad ties, among other products.

The company takes waste material from Evergreen Packaging and bails it. The fire was limited to the outdoor waste-paper yard and did not damage any structures. Not all of the paper burned, Weaver said, but all of it was ruined: about 200 tons.

Toni Perkins, mutual aid technical adviser for Jefferson County’s volunteer fire departments, said five departments responded to the fire. She arrived at the scene at about 8:30 p.m. Sunday.

She said she has responded to fires at that location four times in the last 12 years, but this was the biggest fire she has ever seen at Fiber Resources.

“We’re talking about piles of paper that are 25-30 feet high, and a good 2 acres of nothing but paper,” Perkins said. “It was extremely challenging, and the only way we started making any headway at all was finally when the Fiber Resources staff got out there and started turning the piles over [with heavy machinery] while we were spraying it down.”

The facility is outside city limits and does not have a city water connection. Perkins said the water connection runs through a small pipe, which made the situation even more challenging.

“You know when they say ‘Fiber Resources’ that it’s going to be a long night,” Perkins said.

Weaver said no definite cause for the fire has been identified.

“It could have been a spark when they were moving the material, or the material could of come in hot. There’s no telling,” Weaver said.

Weaver said Thursday’s tornado took the roof of one building and tore the back end off their biggest warehouse in addition to destroying their fire-suppression system.

Operations from the tornado-damaged buildings have been relocated to other parts of the facility.

“We’re bouncing back. That’s why you carry insurance. It’s a blow to you, but we’re already back in operation,” Weaver said.

He said the last fire trucks left at 7:15 a.m. Monday with the fire mostly out and still smoldering. Staff continued to patrol the fire site and the plant resumed operations at about 8 a.m. The fire was completely out by Monday afternoon.

“The biggest thing is that nobody was hurt,” Weaver said.

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